XCOM EU Miscellaneous Graphic Assets.

[Zyxpsilon]

As requested by goombaroomba...

A tech-tree version in a spreadsheet format.

[Zyxpsilon]

8wayz,

 

Are these what you mentioned in LW thread for the Classes-PSI stuff?

EDIT; Running out of Nexus space!

Edited September 1, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Alright let's start with the minimal needs;

 

1) Texmod & Gildor's UModel(+GUI)... The wiki has extensive information about both these programs. I'd recommend reading up on those before trying to use them.

 

2) I'd also suggest paying a visit to my Re-CoLoRing project thread (first few posts, at least) where i expand (somehow) deeper on TexMod processing.

 

First method -- TexMod;

 

a) Any textures currently on Screen are accessible (via Logging Mode) through a placeholder (green "boxes") when selected. You can save them as DDS, PNG, TGA (etc) for later use. Creating a mod with that program is a bit more complex and beyond your current needs, i'm guessing.

 

b) The major advantage of this process is WYSIWYG. You always consult directly from the UI, only grab what you want, in many different ways, any time, at will!

 

c) It's a bit tricky and/or cumbersome at first but it won't take you long to get the hang of it. Besides, it's the **ONLY** texturing run-time injector (stack memory space) that works for XCom and plenty more games.

 

Secondly -- UModel;

 

a) This is an extremely powerful device. It actually scans entire UPK files and list (or extracts!) anything in there while referred by headers & structural tables. Some stuff requires the -lzo decompression option. It's a try-out search, mostly.

 

b) I'd also recommend working on copies and NOT authentic game folder sources. Ideally you want to move such copies into UModel directory and inspect (or/and extract) their content from there.

 

c) What you're after is mostly archived in any of many specific UPK files (located in "CookedPCConsole") ; five individual UICollection_***_SF, XCom**, Shell, etc.

 

d) All images are tagged with "Texture2D" straight on the interface. Which is why i suggested to get the GUI asset for UModel... a much easier way to work with instead of Dos'sy command-lining jiggles.

 

e) UModel GUI has a handy feature. It can also extract TO a pre-defined custom folder. Use it to your advantage.

 

 

Sooooooo... that's the essential. Try it all out. Should you have any further questions, feel free to ask right here! I'll keep track of your progress as often as possible during the next few days or weeks.

Good luck, it's going to be fun -- trust me, i know exactly how and why. :wink:

Edited August 24, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

I noticed "after the fact" that you'd want to extract the ItemCards too... well, i could simply give them in DDS format to you! I have them lying around in a folder somewhere since i mostly keep such Vanilla stuff -- just in case. ;)

 

Only problem is that Nexus attachment process has some inherent maximum limit of 250KBs per file!!

 

That whole set of (just) INV_DDS is already zipping @ 813KBs worth. Again, it would be a matter of having a (truly modern and usefull enough) hosting location from which you could simply get them ***IF*** the above extraction methods aren't working for you.

Lemme know and i'll try finding such a host.

[Zyxpsilon]

Bad news about the LW UICollection_Strategy_SF.UPK file (and some others) where we could have found some customized Texture2D items.

I finally realized the Beta13_Linux upload contained all stand-alone mod files instead of being packed into a self-executable installer... so, i reasoned some UModel inspection would give us valid extract results. Not so, sadly.

 

There must be a weird archiving process for it that prevents UModel from grabbing these assets.

 

Strangely though, i managed to extract all INV versions from Longwar.UPK. So you might be able too.

[8wayz]

Textmod looks interesting and easy to use, yet you would require to unlock all items and weapons in order to extract their images. I am still not that far into the campaign. It also is a bit cumbersome since you will have to go through a lot of textures to find those you want. I will still give it a try later today.


I tried to browse the .upk files last week with Umodel and its GUI - everytime I try to load a. upk file it gives me the following message:

The requested operation requires elevation
umodelGUI.exe needs to be in the same directory as umodel.exe.

Both .exe files are in the same directory : XCom Enemy Within/ UPK Modding Tools/Umodel.

I have no clue why the umodelGUI.exe does not recognise the umodel.exe, I have yet to open a .upk file. I know how to use UPK Decompressor and Extractor, also UE Explorer. Only Umodel is giving me trouble. :)

[Zyxpsilon]

Textmod looks interesting and easy to use, yet you would require to unlock all items and weapons in order to extract their images. I am still not that far into the campaign. It also is a bit cumbersome since you will have to go through a lot of textures to find those you want. I will still give it a try later today.

 

 

Have any experience using the DEV Console (Miscellaneous section of LW/Dowloads)? Cuz, that specific In-Game "cheating" device might help you out. It simply would accelerate your game by handing over money, meld, quickly finishing missions through auto-killing everything on maps, etc.

Cumbersome? Yep, a bit. But Texmod has options to limit exposing textures to what's ONLY loaded from the currently viewed screen(s). You just reset the parser and --plouck-- your scanning process (and time) has been drastically reduced.

 

UModel not recognizing GUI? Dunno exactly why this would happen but my installed files for this tool are not anywhere near Game folders. In fact, everything is on a different physical drive or in a dedicated partition with (only) data stuff.

IIRC though, someone had a similar flaw in the past and there was a quick & easy solution to that problem in Gildor's forums. Have a peek!

 

As a reference here's what i have in the UModel folder;

4 Executables -- decompress(52224_Bytes), extract(53760), umodel(369664__from the 29/11/13 version) and, umodelgui(24064_06/02/11).

SDL.dll(935936)

Notify.log (which gives "crashes" report hints)

Readme.txt

 

Sometimes running such stuff as admin also helps resolving a few issues even if unrelated.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[8wayz]

Update I:

After having some success with Umodel (running under administrator solved my initial worries) I could not export anything. I played around with Textmod and while it does take some to find the textures you are looking for, it is pretty nifty and straightforward to use. Many thanks for the hint on using Textmod!

I have two further questions, bear in mind I am saving the files in .png format:

- Itemcards textures (weapons for example) are extracted on a teal background. That does not go well with UFOpaedia's choice of color.... :smile:
Is there a way to set a default background via Textmod before saving an image? If not, is there a feasable way to change the background of 100+ images without going through them one by one?
- The checksums are a great touch, I am wondering whether I can use them to cross-reference them with the name of the file where the texture is, in order to verify some textures I am having doubts about?

More questions are sure to arise.... :smile:

Edited August 25, 2014 by 8wayz

[Zyxpsilon]

UModel has been having "troubles" with specific LW UPK formatting from here as well. I've just (finally) got to install my own copy of LW, so it will be much easier for me to help out and follow up on any further comments or questions you might have!

 

The export function of UModel is --indeed-- tricky. Sometimes it would scan an entire file and proceed... other times, it can simply stop at the first occurance of a file. It might be a good idea to try contacting Gildor in his Forums to mention (LW flaws) such stuff as i'm not really the programmer of their tool. Just a user that hopes everything works as smoothly as intended when i hit the run button as i guess you are also! :wink:

 

TexMod extraction; I've found early on that the only type of file that actually saves the AlphaChannel (transparency layer) straight from our clicks is DDS. I certainly agree PNG would be preferable but its routine (within TexMod Code) was probably "borked up" from the very beginning. After all, this is an old Try-Out code that's never been updated (or fixed!) by anyone. The original author has even vanished into the wild, i heard.

 

So checking the DDS option box during set-up should solve your tricky problem right from the TexMod settings phase - as it did for me awhile ago. Tricky point here is that *WE* must convert the DDS back into PNG on our external programs (I swear by PSPro X3 or Gimp 2!8 exclusively... overhere, btw) if need be.

 

Checksums method is obviously a superb and ingenious thought by the coder. Referencing assets and/or textures is all the much easier for anyone grabbing hundreds of pictures from a running game. Every single files i created for my ReCoLoRing-Projects are maintained and tracked by each of those precious (#) tags. Packaging TPF even requires them as prefix_headers for each texture lines... proving how essential they naturally are.

I highly recommend anyone to exploit such a feature. Detecting (all extracted as XCOM***__, btw) files and their related editing versions is made a lot more "intelligent" as a result.

 

And, now onto my very first LW session -- wish me luck!! :smile:

 

PS; Keep 'hem comin' these questions, i'll do my best to answer correctly!

Edited August 26, 2014 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

XMarksTheSpot (the coder behind the tiny Stats "icons" in the barracks listing & Soldier's cards) has given me some nifty hints on how he managed to integrate these into LW frameworks.

 

Quite simply, they used sprites instead of textures. So Texmod nor UModel won't be able to "snatch" away such pictures for your wiki project. The only way (unless someone can hand over the actual source sprites, btw) to then obtain exact replicas will be to take snapshots of the UI and fiddle with the actual results if need be. Considering how the PNG are accurately saved by the extra Steam option (instead of the darn lossy JPG tragic accident with rational quality that most real artists expect!), they should be good (or clear) enough also for your task.

 

These could also be "replicated" from actual Perk default files as they are pulled from such assets, i think. With some drawing skills and patience, anything could be done to mimic the authentic images.

 

I'll get deeper into the LW resources later this week too. Might find some stuff worthy of inclusion in my ReCLR_TPF files. I'll make sure to offer you anything i find in a zip here whenever.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Zyxpsilon